with Reroll & Ignore Injury

Yeah, it’s been about 6 years. Forgot about this blog. Was pleasantly surprised to see that somehow people still stumble on some of the old posts hahaha. Thinking of reviving it. Facebook posts just don’t seem very… detailed.

Got to witness an endangered species, the sea turtle, laying over a hundred eggs and burying them in warm sand, under cover of night.

Had a good long swim for the first time in ages, too.

There’s a platoon of US marines (I’m probably exagerating) staying at my beach resort… saw them ‘training’ in their fatigues on the beach? What the hell’s happenning?

Who CARES!

Had a fantastic dinner at a place called ‘Alor Akar Seafood Restorant’. Except I didn’t eat any seafood! Just fine herbal whole chicken, stir fired lettuce (with garlic) and tofu with minced meat… strangely a great gastronomic experience!

Elaborate 40k posts will have to be postponed, I’m having too much fun!

Still looking through the new codex Grey Knights… will be writing a post on them soon…

Also started work on drilling and pinning for the other parts of the set piece for a painting competition that has Brother Raphael in it. Once it’s dry, I’ll be doing some green stuff sculpting… something I’m not very experienced with. Ah well, I’ll learn something here, I hope.

I’ll be going on a short trip in a few days to a beach resort… Cherating, and the ‘beautiful’ Pacific / South China Sea. Post pictures if I remember to take any!

Ok, I may have been mistaken when I posted not too long ago that the new Grey Knights codex isn’t going to be much impact on the state of the game… because, apparently, it’s starting to make a splash at some tournaments around the world… if you believe internet ‘reporting’.

Really?

I may have to do a complete re-analysis. Am I missing something? Think I’ll mull on it a while and post a detailed look at the new Grey Knights… come to think of it, I haven’t actually posted a write up on the new codex…

I originally intended him to be an ordinary Sanguinary Guard, battling Enemies of the Imperium in a set piece for a painting competition. Halfway through painting, I realised that Sanguinary Guards could not wield Thunderhammers! I really liked the Hammertime! pose though, so I went on painting. It’s more or less complete now, and I’ll be doing the rest of the piece before integrating him for the final touch-up.

Still, it bothered me a little that Sanguinary Guards can’t have hammers. So I got the idea to do my own Optional Rules (opponent permission required) for one. But what approach to take to ‘legalise’ this miniature? Should I just allow Sanguinary Guards to take a hammer for 10 points? Or something else?

Looking at other codices, I realised that the new marine ones have ‘upgradeable’ named characters for certain squads – Telion for Ultramarines, Ajax for Space Wolves, Thawn for Grey Knights – but the Blood Angels don’t!

Some people may argue that The Sanguinor’s Blessing is like a sort of ‘upgrade’ to the squad Sergeant. But it’s random, and the dude HAS NO NAME.

And so Brother Raphael was born. I envision him as a unique upgrade character for Sanguinary Guards. Short Background: Raphael was the Sergeant of Assault Squad Angelus in the disastrous boarding action of the derelict mining facility of Asteroid A729 of the Entrax System. The facility turned out to be the secret hideout of a renegade space marine warband, The Ebony Knights. Raphael’s entire squad was killed to the man, save for him. He ultimately managed to cleanse the place, and returned alone with the prize, a valuable STC template, and took the renegade leader’s weapon, the mastercrafted thunderhammer Rayden, as trophy. It was rumoured that he had help – a golden man-shaped ‘meteor’ was sighted hitting asteroid A729 shortly after Squad Angelus arrived… Raphael himself is tight-lipped about what really took place, but he was a changed man from then on. He had taken on a somewhat mystical persona from the experience, and after a century of exemplary service, was elevated to the Sanguinary Guard with the exceptional right to wield Rayden, because of his awe-inspiring skill with it, instead of the usual glaive. He has been nicknamed ‘The Exalted’ for seemingly being blessed by the Primarch himself with good fortune, and extraordinary good judgement calls…

The stats for those interested:

BROTHER RAPHAEL……………………………………+75 points
One Sanguinary Guard squad can upgrade one of its members to Raphael the Exalted

Speed of Thunder: Raphael’s skill with Rayden is legendary, and the speed with which he wields it is beyond belief. He strikes at the usual Initiative order, ignoring thunderhammer Initiative restrictions. In addition, only in the turn in which he charged into assault, he strikes at Strength and Initiative 10.

Foresight: Inheriting the Primarch’s gift of prophesy, though less potent, Raphael can predict attacks that would have killed him, by divining the method to avoid or overcome them beforehand. He has a 4+ invulnerable save, and once per game, can ignore one failed save of any sort.